The Ashes isn’t going to bowl over non-cricket fans, but it’s a solid representation of the sport, and not that biased against us poms.

Even without having any headline stealing innovations, F1 2014 is still a finely tuned, expertly crafted testament to the sport, and great way to experience the trials and tribulations of meandering a stylish, super powered car around a circuit for an hour or so – heck, I can even be the cause of those crashes I so desired.

Taking cues from its contemporaries, particularly Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Grasshopper’s hack and slash tale of moon power and misogyny is an entertaining diversion, particularly narratively and artistically, but its gameplay unfortunately lacks the inventiveness or ingenuity to see it mature into a truly timeless action game.

No Place Like Home has some nice touches that offer a satisfying gameplay loop, but there are some issues holding it back.

The story and design may not be unique enough to allow the game to stand out and be a hugely memorable experience, but the gameplay itself is very satisfying and not purely a nostalgia trip.

For a game designed by a relatively small indie studio, Strayed Lights is more than competent in terms of gameplay and combat.

Valkyrie Elysium is an enjoyable action RPG packed full of combos and upgrades, but the boring levels and story detract from the fun.

A respectable effort in turn-based strategy, but if you’re after a story and a welcoming hand, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Scarf offers a short and sweet platforming experience. It's perfectly enjoyable to play, but you'll likely be left wanting more when the credits roll.

Penny's Big Breakaway is a fun 3D platformer with great locomotion, but a whole host of bugs and checkpoint issues spoil the good time.

If you can ignore The Sinking City's technical failings, set the combat difficulty to easy and stick to getting embroiled in the story.

Just Colors is as simple as puzzle games get, but with a good approach to building upon a basic, easy-to-understand idea.

It's incredibly ambitious, but without spending hours upon hours building a safe haven to protect you from the brutality of PvP, the single player feels a bit redundant without anyone to play with.

Gimmick! Special Edition deserved a wider audience back in the day and is well worth your time if you are a fan of old-school platform hopping fun.

Rainbow Moon’s cutesy style and twinkly audio design cleverly disguise a genuinely challenging, surprisingly sprawling adventure with enough depth and variety to appease even the hardiest strategy-RPG fan. Forced grinding and unexpected dfficulty spikes aren’t all that enoyable, but they’re not game-breaking either.

A good start to Starcraft II’s DLC, Nova Covert Ops delivers a fun and tense opening chapter, but suffers from a lack of story content.

Garden Story is a beautiful game with a laid back attitude, but the slow paced gameplay won't be to everyone's taste.

There’s a lot to love in Alone With You: the wonderful art style, the synth soundtrack, the well written story, and the way it touches on interesting subjects being just a few. However, unnecessary padding and busy work really drag the overall enjoyment down.

Amid the Ruins has its fair share of shortcomings, but it also ticks most of the boxes of what we have been asking for in the past. It maintains a good pace throughout, and avoids getting bogged down with trivialities. It also manages to provide a mix of action sections, emotional scenes, and conversational passages – yet we also get some much-appreciated character development.

SingStar Celebration is a vanilla version of a party game classic, and you'll have a great time if you allow yourself to let your hair down.

Whenever a game can surprise you, it’s obviously a good thing. Stick It To The Man definitely does that at points – but, when it’s touted as a comedy and the laughs don’t come in thick and fast, disappointment follows.

OPUS: Rocket of Whispers while not as great as the previous game, is still well worth your time if you enjoy games with heartwarming stories. You will need to tolerate some padding to get ahead in the story sadly.

Issues aside, Dreamfall Chapters is an adventure game worthy of your time. The story is powerful and engaging, with characters you’ll fall in love with. Get past the annoying robot and characters that swear far too much (and seemingly for the shock factor) near the start, and you’ll begin to appreciate all the hard work Red Thread Games has put into each and every book.

Probably the most fun you can have in a Nickelodeon videogame, this is a derivative but fun fighter that kids will enjoy, but will probably do quite well in the competitive community too.

Fitting for a game called ‘Tales’ Vesperia spins a good yarn, but ultimately the game is showing its age.

Despite a few illogical puzzles and poor controls, The Inner World’s writing shines through to create a decent, amusing adventure.

I wish the difficulty spikes weren’t as annoying because this is a fun experience with some good humour and an interesting gameplay mechanic.

Play through the story mode until you take out the first boss and you should have a good grip on how the game is played, once there I suggest you stop before the game turns you into a gibbering gibbon of pure hatred. Take that part as a tutorial and then play against your friends and you’ll have a whale of a time. I put the game in front of my family members, and for the first time ever I saw interactions that wouldn’t look out of place in a Switch infomercial, they were having pure, unadulterated fun and that’s where this game’s magic lies.